In 2016 and 2017, a number of psychiatrists and
clinical psychologists faced criticism for violating the Goldwater rule, as they claimed that
Donald Trump displayed "an assortment of
personality problems, including
grandiosity, a lack of
empathy, and '
malignant narcissism'", and that he has a "dangerous mental illness", despite having never examined him.
[3][13][14] In defense of this practice, Bandy X Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine, wrote in USA Today "[that] diagnostic practices have changed from accepting interviews to observations, so any assertion that a personal interview is mandatory for a valid professional opinion does not hold."
[14]
John Gartner, a practicing psychologist, and the leader of the group Duty to Warn, stated in April 2017 that: "We have an ethical responsibility to warn the public about Donald Trump's dangerous mental illness."
[15]
The
American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA), a different organization from the APA, sent a letter on June 6, 2017, that highlighted differences between the APA and APsaA ethical guidelines, stating that "The American Psychiatric Association's ethical stance on the Goldwater Rule applies to its members only. APsaA does not consider political commentary by its individual members an ethical matter."
[16][17] In July 2017, the website
Stat published an article by Sharon Begley, labeled "exclusive" and titled "Psychiatry Group Tells Members They Can Defy 'Goldwater Rule' and Comment on Trump's Mental Health". The article, with a photograph of Barry Goldwater as the headline image, stated that "A leading psychiatry group has told its members they should not feel bound by a longstanding rule against commenting publicly on the mental state of public figures", first sourcing the statement to the July 6 American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) letter, but also claiming that it "represents the first significant crack in the profession's decades-old united front aimed at preventing experts from discussing the psychiatric aspects of politicians' behavior"; the article then repeatedly referred to the "Goldwater rule", quoted an unnamed source as saying "leadership has been extremely reluctant to make a statement and publicly challenge the American Psychiatric Association", and claimed that an unnamed "official" had said that "Although the American Psychological Association 'prefers' that its members not offer opinions on the psychology of someone they have not examined, it does not have a Goldwater rule and is not considering implementing one".
[18][19] Yahoo News reporter Michael Walsh criticized the
Stat article, saying it was "misleading" by stating that the letter "represents the first significant crack": The American Psychiatric Association retains the Goldwater rule, and the APsaA never had the rule and was not changing.
[17] Also, even though the APsaA has no Goldwater rule for its members and allows its members to give individual opinions about specific political figures, its Executive Councilors unanimously endorsed a policy that "the APsaA as an organization will speak to issues only, not about specific political figures".
[17]
In February 2017,
Allen Frances wrote a letter to the editor of the
New York Times, regarding Trump and narcissistic personality disorder: "I wrote the criteria that define this disorder, and Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them."
[20][21] According to the American Psychiatric Association, "saying that a person does not have an illness is also a professional opinion."
[22]
In September 2017,
Jeffrey A. Lieberman published an article extensively speculating on diagnoses for Donald Trump despite claiming to adhere to the Goldwater Rule in the beginning paragraph. He arrived at a diagnosis of "incipient dementia"
[23] but faced no sanctions.
[24]
On December 5, 2019, a group of mental health professionals led by
Yale Medical School psychiatry professor
Bandy X. Lee,
George Washington University professor John Zinner, and former
CIA profiler Jerrold Post, publicly urged the
House Judiciary Committee to consider Donald Trump's “dangerous” mental state that was ostensibly arising from his “brittle sense of self-worth” as part of the
Congressional impeachment ongoing process.
[25]
Since April 2017, Lee has been stating
[26] that while she has been an adherent to the Goldwater Rule "for over 20 years,"
[27] the APA was "violating its own rule"
[28] by modifiying it so that it would not be possible to meet its "affirmative obligation."
[29] She formed an organization with thousands of other mental health professionals "in opposition to the American Psychiatric Association, which, with the Trump presidency, not only failed to meet the psychiatric profession’s societal responsibility but inhibited individual professionals from doing so."
[30] Some accuse the APA of conflict of interest, since it receives federal funding,
[31] which has been increased since its actions under the Trump administration.
[32]
